Unplugged

Environment | Al Gore's latest book tour has less science than politics and less polish than the movie version

SEATTLE- Protesters, supporters, and media members clogged the sidewalk outside Seattle's Town Hall June 4, anticipating the arrival of Al Gore to promote his latest book, The Assault on Reason (The Penguin Press, 2007). Inside the building's 850-seat theater, which sold out in three minutes, an electric buzz echoed off the domed ceiling. Many in attendance sported "Gore 2008" buttons in hopes of prodding their man into another bid for the White House. The auditorium erupted in applause when the former vice president took the stage.

But for the next 45 minutes, the audience turned remarkably silent. Gore lectured on the history of "information ecosystems," including wide-ranging topics from the creation of language to Gutenberg's printing press to the age of television and the internet. The largely gray-headed crowd, many of whom might have skipped or slept through similar presentations as college freshmen 30 years ago, saw little of the wit and humor that characterized Gore's Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. This was Gore without an editor: vague, long-winded, and conspicuously unpresidential.

Not until the end of his talk did the one-time face of the Democratic Party deliver the shots at Republicans that people had come to see. He reiterated his new book's central thesis that the millions of Americans who disagree with his views on climate change or the Iraq War have simply lost the ability to reason.

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Gore contends that GOP leaders, specifically President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, are in the business of duping the nation's citizenry for financial gain. "The public interest is considered by the ideology that now controls the executive branch to be a myth," he said.

As proof, Gore asked the audience to weigh the importance of repealing the death tax against that of providing universal public health care. To Gore, anyone who favors the tax cut is not only incorrect but also either dishonest or obtuse.

Gore did not publicly address the Bush administration's recently unveiled plan to develop a global climate-change framework by the end of next year. But in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, he called the proposal "a transparent ruse" and "the latest in a long effort to obfuscate and delay."

Such remarks echo those of some European leaders, who fear the Bush plan marks the end of the Kyoto protocol, an international pact calling for hard caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. Indeed, the Bush framework maintains the United States' consistent rejection of hard caps, placing the focus on research and development of emissions-reducing technology-a far more palatable enterprise to developing nations such as China and India, which have long refused to adopt the Kyoto strategy.

Bush contends that any meaningful international approach to climate change must include China and India, the former of which will surpass the United States this year as the world's foremost emitter of greenhouse gases. His plan, which he detailed at the three-day G8 summit in Germany last week, will seek support from the 15 highest-emitting nations, encouraging each country to set individual goals and share technology to achieve them. Much to the chagrin of Gore and others like German chancellor Angela Merkel-who has proposed hard caps to reduce emissions 50 percent by 2050-the Bush plan is expected to vault the United States into a position of leadership in the global climate-change dialogue.

The plan has already received endorsements from Democrats usually opposed to this administration's environmental policies. Its deadline for implementation ensures that even if a Democrat assumes control of the White House in January of 2009, alterations or an outright rejection of the framework would prove politically risky. What U.S. president would voluntarily forfeit leadership of an established international coalition-besides Gore, that is?

To Gore, the very notion that technology alone could sufficiently reduce emissions to curb global warming offends reason. He advocates dramatic worldwide lifestyle changes as the only real solution to a climate crisis that he says imminently threatens human civilization.

In an effort to lend credence to his dire projections, many of which have fielded sharp criticism from highly respected and accomplished climatologists, Gore's book draws parallels between climate change and the Iraq War. During his Seattle speech, the anti-war author detailed a litany of incorrect intelligence that prompted the Iraq invasion. He suggested that the Bush administration's use of this information amounted to willful manipulation and an assault on reason, the same tactics, he argued, now employed to debunk his extreme climate scenarios. "The consequences of failing to respond to the climate crisis are far more serious than the consequences of invading Iraq," he said. "What this book is about is how we can avoid making other mistakes like that."

A vigorous standing ovation accompanied Gore as he concluded his remarks and left the stage. Hundreds of audience members lined up for a scheduled book signing, many pressing the victor of the popular vote for president in 2000 on whether he planned to run again in 2008. "Thank you for feeling that way," he responded. "I'm not planning on it."

Back burner

Could efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions boost the war on terror?

Allan Kahane, co-founder of a sugar trading and ethanol development company in Brazil, believes alternative fuels are a critical part of the worldwide effort to reduce man-made climate change. He is overseeing a $300 million initiative to construct at least four sugar and ethanol mills that will generate 20 million tons of crushed cane per year, a significant boost to global biofuel production.

But Kahane considers his work far more important than merely making money or combating the planet's warming trend. He views it as an essential front in the war on terror. "We know that Iran and Saudi Arabia produce one-third of all oil reserves and 20 percent of all gas reserves," he said during an interview with WORLD. "By continuing to consume fossil fuels at the pace that we are consuming, we're strengthening Iran's hand in its negotiations with the West in relation to its nuclear ambitions. And we're not confronting its outsourcing of terrorism through organizations such as Hezbollah."

Kahane has taken his message to Washington, lobbying members of Congress to take seriously the connection between climate-change policy and terrorism. He says even a small reduction in foreign oil dependence would significantly drain the financial coffers of many terrorist groups. That belief stems from research Kahane conducted while writing his critically acclaimed bestseller Fire with Fire (Pyro Publishing, 2006), a novel exploring the roots and networks of Iranian terrorism.

President George W. Bush has publicly noted the country's addiction to oil and expressed his desire to achieve energy independence. But concern over climate change remains the primary political driving force behind discussions of alternative fuels and renewable energy, a line of argument that fails to energize the many politicians and citizens unconvinced that global warming presents an imminent crisis.

Kahane contends that national security presents a far more urgent and politically unifying reason to reduce fossil fuel consumption: "Of course the climate issue is serious, but a nuclear Iran is a much more immediate danger than global warming."